How do you clear "top hits"

Bermudapilot,

I just ran into the same issue. But it was only one Top Hit I wanted to delete. What I eventually did was go to the page that I wanted to delete from top hits. Then I went to Show History in the History menu. I highlighted the item I wanted to delete, right clicked, and hit "delete."

Now that URL never autocompletes when I start typing it. It seems this will work for any URL you want to delete from your Top Hits/URL autocomplete. I imagine that deleting your whole history will delete all autocompleted URLs, but I don't want to test that becaues I want most of my autocompletes.

Best,

Go to History > Show History

At the bottom of the History list, there is a search box, where you can search for the "shady" website. It will also bring up any subpages, so you can delete any trace of your "visit."

HI Bermudapilot, did you ever get anywhere with this? I tried the navigate-to-and-delete-from-history solution as well without luck. I've got a top hit that just won't go away and it's getting annoying! 🙂

I'm sorry Judy but i dont see that option in Safari 10.0.3 (11602.4.8.0.1) in El Capitan (I don't update as i dont like the new features in Sierra nor do i like updating Safari... last time the removed 'zoom text only' which made my wok since then ten times harder.. no more updates for me)

I would like to add, that if we search in google or have google as search bar assistant, url search assistant, then the url bar will always have remembered suggestions, because google keep those cookies and plists on its own server when you log in, so you cant get rid of it in google all those horrible drop down suggestion lists, and the bookmarks too. Anyway Judy, i think your answer is deprecated as the current Safari has less options, and the option you speak of is no longer accessible in the current preference panes. I see no 'Smart Search Field' visible in this preference pane.

Hi Bermudapilot,

Welcome to the Support Communities!

Apple - Support - Mac Apps - Safari

http://www.apple.com/support/mac-apps/safari/

If you click on the Help menu in the Safari application on your Mac, and search for "Privacy pane of Safari preferences" you will find the following:

These settings can be changed in the Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Smart Search Field section.

I hope this information helps ....

Happy Holidays!

- Judy

Hi Bermudapilot,

Thank you for using the Apple Support Community. Due to the nature of your issue or question you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action

- Judy

I had this issue with my iphone. I went to settings>iCloud then turn off safari haven't had anymore issues with top hits lol.

Hi Bermudapilot,

Did you reset Safari and restart the computer after making those changes?

This information is from the Safari Help menu:

Reset Safari

Reset Safari to prevent other users of your computer from seeing information about how you used Safari. You can also reset to try to solve problems with opening webpages.

WARNING: When you reset Safari, it deletes the browsing history it stored for you, but doesn’t delete the browsing history stored by some plug-ins you may have installed.

Choose Safari > Reset Safari.

Deselect items you don’t want to reset:

Clear history: Clears the list of webpages you viewed, empties caches, removes website icons, and clears the list of recent searches. Also clears managed website settings for all plug-ins with websites set to Block Always.

Website icons, also called favicons, appear in the search and address field and other places.

You see your recent searches by clicking the magnifying glass at the left end of the search and address field when it’s empty.

Reset Top Sites: Clears changes you made to Top Sites, such as adding or pinning sites. If you also clear your history, your Top Sites page reverts to the webpage previews displayed when you first installed Safari.

Reset all location warnings: Removes information that websites saved about your location.

Reset all website notification warnings: Removes the record of websites that you allowed or denied permission to post Notification Center alerts. This option is shown in OS X v10.8 or later.

Remove all website data: Removes cookies, tracking information, and other data that websites stored on your computer. Also clears all managed website settings for plug-ins.

Clear the Downloads window: Clears the list of files you downloaded in Safari. The files remain on your computer until you delete them.

Close all Safari windows: Closes all windows thereby preventing another user from viewing webpages you visited.

Click Reset.

- Judy

Hi ahistro,

Your task is exactly, what I was also looking for. However, your approach doesn't work. It then still remains the issue, if it is possible to remove an individual entry of the Top Hits autocompletion field. Any thoughts, anyone?

It works on my computer. It removes an individual entry from the Top Hits autocompletion field. Maybe you can describe step-by-step what you tried to do, in your own words, and I can see if there is any step you're missing?

Hi Bermudapilot,

I found the solution for this. But be careful when doing the following.

1. Quit Safari

2. Go to ~/Library/Safari/ in finder.

3. Find "History.plist" file and edit it using textedit or text wrangler. (you may want to backup this file in case you messed it up)

4. Search in the file for the URL (for e.g. yoursearch.com) or the text you are entering in the "top hits".

5. Identify the parent "<dict> .... http://yoursearch.com ..... </dict>" and delete it from the file.

6. Find any other instances of the same and delete the entire "<dict>" tags.

6. Start Safari and enjoy. "yoursearch.com" will no longer be there. 🙂

Regards,

Ravi Rajendra.

Thank you so much! This was very useful. I had to delete many many many instances but finally all "unwanted" links disappeared and now it shows what I want it to show when I enter text in my URL bar. I will be using this method all the time from now on.

Its under the search tab not the security tab

but even deactivating that it still loeads top hit, bookmarks and history, despite deactivating that

Hate seeing suggestions i always type direct to avoid referring url tracking

I dont want anybody gathering my data without paying me.

The top hits for some reason is sort of hidden when it comes to erasing or clearing. I have found a way to get rid of your certain "top hit". In the safari tabs. Bookmarks > edit bookmarks > then now you look for your top hit , right click and delete. And to make sure, clear your history one last time to test it out. Everything else failed me but this did the trick for that pesty top hit.